Dawson, PA 15428 Frost Dates
15428, near Dawson, PA: the frost window
Around 05/01 is the usual last spring frost, about 246 days away. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/13, roughly 164 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Dawson in Zone 6b (-5 to 0°F average annual minimum); frost dates are NOAA's 1991-2020 station normal, not this year's forecast.
Stretching the season past the first frost
Dawson's growing season runs out in roughly 7 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.
How much risk comes with planting early here
05/01 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/17 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/19 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Dawson against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 164 frost-free days, Dawson places 31,165 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within PA, it ranks 1,618 of 2,088.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 15428: local microclimates, on what one yard in Dawson can differ from the 15428 normal, and zone vs. frost date, on why Zone 6b and Dawson's frost date answer different questions.